Worse places than Wolverhampton in Britain and Europe

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Only ever visited Clare once. My dad did central heating, and had to do a job at this massive house, and my stepmom was at work, so we had to go with him. The house was enormous. I got lost in it twice. The owners had a red setter, which was easily the horniest animal I've ever met.

There was no warning where this paragraph was going to go. I can't stop laughing at this.

[David Agnew]

My sister has lived in Sudbury for more than 20 years. I've spent loads of time there myself.

Can't say I recommend any of the pubs but there are some decent people around as well and the parts around the river are nice. There is also a decent theatre and the twice-weekly market is lively enough.

Always liked the market there, but never been to the Quay. It seems to have a lot more stuff on it there than it did when I visited regularly (I've not been to Sudbury since 2014, and doubt I'll ever go back).

Just remembered a story from FA Vase final day.

One of the guys who my dad knew in the 1980s was a guy called John. John had problems, alcoholic, drug addict, petty thief. Ended up in Highpoint at one stage, and was booked on a drug rehabilitation scheme with a few other prisoners. On the way there, he managed to score, so the drug rehabilitation centre sent him back. But instead of going back on the bus (which needed to stay for the other prisoners), they gave John his taxi fare. So he went home. After a couple of days, he realised he'd be better off handing himself in. So he went to the local station.He was well known to the local police, and they knew he was a petty criminal, not dangerous (well, not to anyone but himself), and often homeless, so when he explained that he'd "escaped", they didn't believe him and sent him on his way. John tried at least three times to hand himself in, and each time it was a case of "of course you've escaped John, now fuck off". FA Vase final day comes, and John decides to go to Wembley. Few days later, the local weekly free paper obviously has coverage, and the front page is a picture of fans on the way to Wembley. Right in the middle of the picture is John. Laughing and joking with a copper. He was back in Highpoint within a week.

[George C.]

Airdrie is worth no one's time. Just a nasty feeling place.

Visited once, not good.

And our mutual polling contact did there recently.

Said 'full of bitter unionists', despite being very probably SNP territory, ultimately.

[Arturo]

Jaywick Sands has had a lot of negative British press commentary recently. Anyone ever been? I've been to nearby Clacton, which at least has a pier and I fucking love piers.

We were staying in Essex five years ago just a few miles from Jaywick, so on the way back from visiting Clacton, we decided to take a look. What struck me was how deserted the place was. Empty streets, hardly a soul around, and it seemed like a genuine ghost town. Yet the place has a population of around 4,500, so it wasn't like a one person and their dog village, but there was just nothing there.

I'm usually quite fine about areas that have an alleged reputation, but this felt edgy enough for us to not want to stick around. Something just didn't feel right. We had a quick look at the sea, then got back in the car and left.

I do actually want to go back one day and find if my initial scepticism was misplaced.

[Sporting]

Has anyone here spent any time in Kings Lynn? I nearly stayed the night once but after staying in a bed and breakfast in Cambridge the next day I hitched to King`s Lynn and got a lift from a couple who were quite drunk and arguing quite violently. The man drove fast down narrow country lanes, avoiding the main routes into the town. They invited me to stay with them, but on arriving home there was a letter waiting for him about a court appearance of his. He did a runner; she advised me to leave. I wasn’t so unhappy about this.

[treibeis]

Has anyone here spent any time in Kings Lynn? I nearly stayed the night once but after staying in a bed and breakfast in Cambridge the next day I hitched to King`s Lynn and got a lift from a couple who were quite drunk and arguing quite violently. The man drove fast down narrow country lanes, avoiding the main routes into the town. They invited me to stay with them, but on arriving home there was a letter waiting for him about a court appearance of his. He did a runner; she advised me to leave. I wasn’t so unhappy about this.

My god-daughter's father's from King's Lynn. Pub-wise, he reckons there are nice, quaint country-style inns and there are places where they threaten to duff you up for being a "boffin" if they catch you doing a crossword to while away the time, with nothing inbetween.

[Uncle Ethan]

I lived in King's Lynn for a few months and had successfully buried the memory. Until now.

[Sporting]

Sorry!

[MsD]

Is Wolverhampton still the swinging capital of the UK? And don't say "not since you moved out".

[MsD]

I just Googled "Wolverhampton swinging capital". Oh dear. Maybe not the top place, but there's a lot of them and they're not shy.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Chatham has been mentioned but not Gillingham, the whole Medway area and towns are thoroughly depressing with generations of families not working.

No mention of Thamesmead yet. A very grim place.

I lived in Wolverhampton in the 90s before moving to Turkey, it was pleasant enough but I'd grown up in rural Wales so had no expectations.

[Duncan Gardner]

Thamesmead's a tad bleak, agreed. Flying into Woolwich Airport yesterday I was looking out to spot my old house and noticed the inmates at Belmarsh were pointing something at us. Guns probably

[Antepli Ejderha]

Dudley hasn't been mentioned either. I lived there for a few years whilst at Uni. The Merryhill centre killed the town.

[Tactical Genius]

I'm currently Living in Wolverhampton (and have been for the last 4 years) and it's not too bad and certainly much better than most of it's Black Country Surroundings like Dudley and Tipton.
The side of town i live in is decent. The centre is 1 mile in one direction and the countryside is half a mile in the other direction as well as canal paths and old train lines that go for miles.

The there is violence here, but nothing compared to like the level of Gang street violence in London and there is a serious issue with hard drugs like Heroin, but it is much easier to avoid than it is in the bigger cities.

The best selling point is that's its dirt cheap, especially if you like huge, well built late Victorian houses with many original features. There are loads of them in the Penn Road and Tettenhall Road area.

For example this property went for 280K and would be worth well over a million in even the roughest parts of London and you wouldn't get much change out of 2 million in one of the recently gentrified parts like Hackney, Tottenham or Brixton.
It's not the place for young people who are looking for somewhere with an active and varied social life (although Birmingham is 20 minutes by train). But it's good place to raise a family and is in the middle of the country and close to the four main motorways of Britain (M40/M42, M6, M5 and M1)